


Their Story

by Artnaniteris



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 17:24:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1135398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artnaniteris/pseuds/Artnaniteris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short JeanMarco one-shots, some AU, some not, all based on the songs in this playlist: http://8tracks.com/artnaniteris/their-story</p><p>There will be an individual summary for a each chapter in the fic. Each story will be relatively short, but definitely over 1,000 words. DISCONTINUED.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Someday by The Strokes

**Author's Note:**

> Marco and Jean have been friends for a while now, and they can't help but think about the future a lot.
> 
> Takes place in canon during their time in the 104th Trainees Squad, from Jean's P.O.V.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco and Jean have been friends for a while now, and they can't help but think about the future a lot. Takes place in canon during their time in the 104th Trainees Squad.

The sun was shining bright overhead, and I couldn’t help but wish that there were more trees or buildings nearby. Unfortunately, today all of the trainees were being forced to run out on the track, meaning no shade until you finished all twenty laps. I was sweating pretty badly at this point (only five more laps to go), but I knew that I couldn’t stop now. I would have to work hard, and show everyone that I was strong and capable. Someday this would all pay off, and that would be when I was safely positioned in the Military Police.

“You’re getting that intense look on your face again, Jean.” A slightly out-of-breath voice spoke from beside me. I glanced over at Marco and huffed a little.

“I’m just thinking about the future. I can see it now, someday you and me are going to be in the Military Police together. All we have to do is work our ass off for these few years, and then we probably won’t even have to think about titans again.” A smile spread onto my lips as I stared forward, jogging along pleasantly. Not too many people were ahead of us at the moment, although I could see Jaeger and Mikasa nearing the front of the pack. Tch, what the hell does she see in that guy anyway?

Beside me, my best friend let out a small laugh. “That actually does sound pretty nice when you put it that way. I bet you’ll make it to the top in no time. They’d have to be stupid not to count you as one of the top ten.”

“Ah, jeez, what the hell are you saying? I mean it’s definitely true, but you’re gonna make me blush over here!” I shot him a quick smile and he laughed, bumping me lightly with his arm. “But you’re the same, you know. You’re definitely going to be in the top ten, with me.”

“Heh, thanks Jean… but I’m not so sure.”

*

_The titans have breached Wall Sina._

_All around me people were screaming. My heart was beating so fast, I was pretty sure it would actually burst from my chest. The human race was going to become extinct, and I had just been sitting in the palace living the good life for the last few months._

_Somehow, not all of my training had gone to waste. My 3D maneuver gear was strapped on, and I quickly propelled myself forward, moving swiftly through the buildings in order to reach a more strategic spot. This movement could have actually been considered calming, or possibly even fun, but the threat of titans was too great and far too stressful. All around me my teammates were getting eaten alive. Screams filled the air, and looking around I suddenly found the faces of people I knew filled with terror._

_My body froze up entirely as I watched a ten meter titan pick up the tall, strong Bertholdt and eat him head first. My breath actually stopped as I saw Mikasa on the floor, screaming in terror before being stepped on by a twenty-five meter class._

_But the worst sight was yet to come._

_Finally I managed to move, shooting away from the scene as I began to cry. Why was I so damn weak? All I could do was stop and stare as my teammates were murdered by those fucking beasts. A scream of rage escaped my lips and I flew forward, my eyes locked on a titan not too far off. It was just walking around, looking as stupid and hideous as the rest of them. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to latch onto a building with my gear and fly forward, slicing up part of the titans back. I was unable to maim it, so the thing kept on moving forward._

_Anger overtook me and once again I moved, aiming to kill, but it turned at a bad moment and suddenly I was flying right toward its mouth._

_Then something hit me._

_I was pushed out of the way, flying toward the floor as my eyes locked onto the object that hit me. It was so easy to make out Marco’s figure as he was crushed between the teeth of the hideous monster._

_Immediately I started to cry and scream, my body shaking as I hit the ground with a gasp._

_“MARCO, MARCO, MARC-“_

“JEAN!”

My eyes tore open and I gasped again, trying my best to intake the air which seemed to have escaped my lungs.

“Jean, calm down! You’re okay!”

Marco’s fingers were digging into my shoulders and I realized that he had been shaking me awake. Tears were still running down my face and I was gasping like a fish out of water. He looked away from me for a second, glancing around at the other beds… oh god… the others had probably heard me. I’d never be able to live this down. Before I could even hide my face in shame Marco put his arm under me and lifted me up, quickly dragging me toward the exit of the barracks.

Once outside we headed toward the spigot and I was able to get some water. I was still hyperventilating a little, but once I started drinking the water I felt a lot better. The whole time, Marco didn’t say a word, and neither did I. It was terribly quiet, until finally I forced myself to speak.

“I… sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine.” I looked up and Marco was smiling a bit sadly at me. He let out a soft sigh and moved to sit next to me. “I’m just glad you’re alright. The way you were screaming… well… it must have been some nightmare.”

I buried my face in my hands, partially out of shame. “I saw you die.” A silence that overtook us after I spoke those words was nearly maddening. It was clear that Marco wasn’t sure what to say, so finally I just started up again. “It was pretty gallant actually… pushed me out of the way before I could get eaten by a fucking titan. But we were older… not much I mean but we were in the Military Police. God, how fucking pathetic, making a damn mistake and having to be saved.” A half laugh half sob escaped me. “I saw Mikasa and Bertholdt go down too… but not in such vivid detail, I guess. I just… I hope that never happens. I don’t want you to…”

“I know.”

I moved my head and turned to him, eyes still damp. Marco was smiling sadly and looking right into my eyes. I let out another pathetic sniffle and he leaned over, wrapping his arms around me.

“It’s okay, Jean, it was only a dream. I highly doubt the Military Police actually have to deal with titans that often. Besides, the probability of them actually getting that far is really small. But, you know…” He trailed off and I shifted my head a bit to look at him. His face was red? “I really would protect you Jean! You’re my best friend so I’d do anything. Even if it meant sacrificing myself.”

Another silence fell over us and Marco shifted a little before pulling away from me, but before he could do it fully I grasped his hand in mine.

“You shouldn’t say stuff like that. However, I guess I should thank you. Having a friend like you, it’s a real honor.” I couldn’t quite look him in the eyes at that line, so I just smiled at the floor. Taking a deep breath, I looked up at the stars in the sky and squeezed his hand a little tighter. “Someday we’ll be at the top, Marco. You and me against the world. And we won’t have to even think about a damn titan again.”

“Yeah… that sounds good. I like that. You and me…

“Someday.”


	2. First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco's life goes through a lot of changes during high school, but there's one addition that he will never regret.

My first day of eleventh grade was expected to range anywhere from mediocre to terrible, that day surprised me by being anything but.

My parents had not been getting along lately and finally decided to get a divorce over summer. Given the choice, I decided to go with my mother, who wanted to move a town over for work reasons.

 The local high school, Sina-Rose High, was just as average as anyone would expect it to be. I had six periods in all, and most of my teachers seemed to be completely crazy. Despite this, I still found myself falling in love with periods two and six. Period two was biology with Mx. Zoe. They were undoubtedly the most insane teacher I had ever had the pleasure of being the student of, but I suppose that made things more interesting. The other, period six, was history with Mr. Smith.

However, neither the subjects nor the teachers made these periods the best part of my day, but instead a classmate of mine.

His name is Jean Kirschtein.

On the first day of school he ran into class late, panting and apologizing while Mx. Zoe just laughed and then told him to sit the hell down. As soon as he came in I just couldn’t stop staring. He was precisely my type in the category of looks, and on the surface he seemed to be energetic and headstrong. Sometimes life just likes to throw stupidly attractive lemons your way and watch as you fail to avoid them every time.

He glanced around the room for a bit before spotting the empty seat next to me and quickly claiming it. I only hoped that I’d be able to keep my eyes to myself. Despite his looks, I was reasonably sure that he would be a pain in the ass. Coming to school late on the first day didn’t exactly help my initial opinion of him.

However, as soon as he sat down he looked over at me and smiled. I tried to ignore how a simple action managed to make my heart start beating faster. The world was so unfair, letting only some people be handsome like that.

“You’re new, aren’t you?”

“Me? Uh, how did you know?”

He shrugged a little. “It’s not like there are a whole lot of people in our grade, you know. Makes it pretty easy to keep track of who’s who, especially when you’ve been going here for two years already.”

“Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense. Heh heh, so let me guess, now you’re gonna tell me that I can just go to you if I need to know all the juicy gossip.” I flashed a smile before glancing forward. Mx. Zoe hadn’t even noticed us chatting away, they were clearly much too involved in telling the class about the extensive anatomy lessons we would be having in the future.

“That wasn’t my exact intention, but if that’s really what you want then I suppose I can indulge you. Just stick with me, and you’ll be well on your way to success.” He shot me a wink and I laughed lightly at his action. “Oh, shit, forgot to ask, what’s your name? I’m Jean.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Marco. I hope we get along.”

And get along we did.

As soon as that first period together had ended, we promised to meet up again during lunch. I was more than happy to accept since I hadn’t actually spoken to anyone other than him. This interaction easily slipped into our daily routines. Occasionally a few other people would join us, and I easily became acquainted with them, all friends of Jean’s from previous years. But if I’m being completely honest with myself, the days where it was just the two of us were the ones I treasured the most.

I had never been able to connect with someone the way I did with Jean. The conversations always flowed without a stutter; we were able to talk about everything and anything together. Within the first week of our friendship I had told him more about myself then I would normally tell some within a year. I never thought I would be able to click with someone this easily.

Before I knew it we were spending practically every day together, and that also came hand in hand with a lot of conflicting emotions.

Obviously I already thought Jean was incredibly attractive, but as I started to learn more and more about him it was clear that this was more about just aesthetics. He was strong, clever, funny, perfect, amazing, and a wonderful friend. Too bad I was thoroughly convinced that he was straighter than a ruler. To be fair, he was probably just as convinced as I was.

Whenever the subject of romance popped up between us I made sure my attraction to men didn’t become obvious. I am attracted to women as well, so it wasn’t as though I was lying when we spoke casually about the females in our class, but I also felt bad for not just coming out and saying it. At the time I was probably scared, worried that for some reason Jean would suddenly hate me if he discovered that I also liked men, specifically him.

As luck would have it the topic didn’t come up all that often, and even when it did Jean had more than enough stories of his own failed relationships to share. Apparently a girl he confessed to in middle school shot him down without a single thought and it totally crushed his spirits. The story was actually rather amusing, but I didn’t want to offend him by laughing.

I was just content with being close to Jean, even if it meant suppressing my feelings for him.

*

“Marco, pay attention! Do I really have to tell you to get your head in the game?”

I shot him an overdramatic look of disgust before turning back toward the television screen. It was currently day five of our first winter break together, and Jean was kicking my ass at Super Smash Bros Brawl.

“Ugh, fuck you and your stupid Kirby. What do you love so much about that pink gooey bastard anyway?”

“He’s got some good moves! Besides, everyone knows Marth is a total pussy and yet there you go, playing him.”

“What? He’s a great character!”

“A great character who I’m about to K.O.”

I did my best to prevent that statement from actually becoming reality, but it was no use. Kirby kicked Marth right of the edge, and I did nothing but sit there and stare as my character met his untimely death. As the game declared Jean the winner, I groaned loudly and slumped back into the couch.

“Haha! Suck it, fourth win in a row!” He did a small victory dance before setting down his controller on the couch.

“Ugh, I admit defeat. You win, yay, go Jean.” I declared unenthusiastically. My eyes closed with a sigh for a brief moment, and when I opened them again Jean’s face was suddenly a lot closer. Hopefully my body wouldn’t betray me by turning my face as red as a Twizzler.

He started to grin at me and that tiny expression made me feel all warm and tingly inside. “You wanna watch a movie, dude?”

“A movie? Sure, uh, which one?”

“Mmmm… how about Fight Club?”

“Fight Club? Uh… to be honest, I’ve never seen.” I admitted this sheepishly. I didn’t really know what the movie was about, but if there were so many references about it in pop culture then it had to be something, right?

“You’ve never seen it?” His grin only grew at this. “Holy shit Marco, this is gonna be awesome. You’ll love it, I promise.” He moved away from me to go get the movie.

“Heh, if you say so, I’ll believe you.”

That night was one I would remember likely for the rest of my life. Partially because the movie was actually really good, but mostly because halfway through Jean (who had seen the film at least seven times already) leaned over and rested his head on my shoulder.

I was lucky that my head didn’t burst from all the blood rushing to my cheeks.

*

A good portion of the next year was spent with me doing my best to keep my emotions a secret.

This proved to get much harder as we got closer, though. At some times I even thought that he might like me, but I had convinced myself that was impossible.

Eleventh grade came and went, and we of course continued to stay close. We were just friends, but our relationship finally moved in the direction I always wished it had sometime in late summer, just before the start of the new school year.

I had been forced to spend the entire month of August a state away with my family. It wasn’t as though I hated my family, but the whole ordeal was incredibly stressful. My aunt and uncle wouldn’t stop bringing up the divorce; they kept acting as though I was in severe mental and emotional anguish even though I had never even hinted at being that way. And honestly, I had wanted to spend that time with Jean. We had one more year of school together, and then college would come and there was a large possibility of our separation. This was hard to think about, but the thought that we would be unable to see each much after high school kept coming back.

There was about a week left until I would be returning to my home, and I was in the middle of a call with Jean. We ended up getting into contact with each other at least once a day, whether through phone, Skype, or whatever other medium. Just like eating lunch together every day, this was something that had happened naturally.

I sighed audibly into the receiver as I slumped against the wall of the tiny room I had been placed in during this time. Jean had been talking about a new videogame he bought, but he suddenly stopped talking and paused for a beat.

“Are you alright?”

“H-Huh? Me? Yeah, I’m fine, totally!” Flustered, I did my best to assure him of how fine I was quickly. I didn’t feel like I could just come out and say something like how much I missed him. Even with the addition of a “no homo” that was much too obvious.

The other side of the line went silent.

“Jean? Are you still there?”

Next, he let out a sigh. “Yeah. I’m still here… I know you’re lying, dude. Come on, you can tell me what’s wrong!”

“Nothing’s wrong, honestly! I just…”

“You just what?”

I was stuck at an impasse in my mind, unwilling to speak truthfully. “Nnn… ah, that’s right, you were saying that you got the new Battlefield game, right? What is the campaign lik-“

“Marco!”

I stopped speaking, cut off by Jean’s exclamation. I was sure he was frowning intensely at the phone.

“You know you can tell me anything. Come on, what’s on your mind?”

A slightly uneasy feeling came over me, but I was unable to stop myself from saying, “I miss you.”

“Huh?”

“I miss you, Jean. I miss you. I miss you. I miss-“

“Okay! Okay, I get it.”

My eyes were watering up a bit and I flinched when he spoke. I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“You’re still… at the same place, right?”

“What?”

“The same place! You know, at your aunt and uncles.”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.” I sniffled a little, confused by his words. “Why?”

There was some shuffling and a pause before Jean spoke again. “Don’t go to sleep. I’m gonna call you again, okay? In a few hours. Just don’t go to sleep!”

The line went dead with a beep and I pulled the phone away, a puzzled expression now on my face. A few hours? I glanced at the clock and saw the time; it was already eleven at night. What in the world was he thinking? But I couldn’t exactly deny a request from Jean, so I just did my best to stay awake.

The time passed slowly with anticipation. Anything I watched seemed boring, and nothing on the internet really interested me.  Paying attention to the book I had been reading was impossible, and I gave up before finishing even one page.

By the time the clock hit four am I was just about ready to call Jean and ask him why the hell I was staying up so late! However, only a few more minutes of restlessness went by before my phone started ringing.

I picked it up before the first one had even finished.

“Jean! What in the world are you doing?”

A laugh greeted me on the other side of the line. “Go outside.”

“You’re making no sense, what is this about?”

“Geez, Marco, don’t question it so much, just do it.”

“Alright, fine, but if it’s really cold out there then I’m definitely going to punch you when I get back.”

“Yeah, right, I’d like to see you try!”

Another laugh came across the phone as I yanked on a jacket and made my way downstairs. I really had no idea what he was thinking; once again I was left in the dark with his weird little ideas. It’d be nice to get inside that head of his and figure out what’s up.

“Are you there yet?”

“Hang on, I’m at the door now.”

“Hurry up Marco, no time to waste!”

“Okay, okay.” I started to open the door and stepped outside. “I’m outside, now tell me what the hell this is all… ab…”

I stared, wide eyed, mouth gaping. My phone fell out of my hand and hit the damp ground with a dull thud.

Across the front yard was Jean, leaning against his car, grinning like a moron, and waving his arms in greeting. I practically flew as I ran over there, opening my arms wide and pulling him into an embrace.

“Jean!” I felt breathless as I said his name. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Heh, surprised?”

“Well yeah I am! Jeez, so this is why I had to stay up so late…”

“It’s your fault, you know… saying you missed me, what else was I supposed to do?”

I looked up at him and he averted his eyes, his whole face turning bright red. Preventing my amusement would have been impossible.

Without thinking I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thanks Jean. I… I like you. A lot.”

It wasn’t possible but his face actually got redder. I just sort of watched, amused, before fully realizing what I had said. Oh man, that was probably the wrong thing to say. What would he think? My heartbeat suddenly sped up as my nerves took hold and I tried to brace myself for inevitable heartbreak.

“M-m-m-me too!”

The stuttered exclamation came out and I jerked my head up to look at him. Jean had the funniest expression on his face. A mix between embarrassment and sincerity. Without thinking, I began to laugh.

We stayed there for a while, arms wrapped around each other and muttering stupid things.

That really felt like the first day of my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to my editor for this chapter, Camilla! Without you, this would have been a much less enjoyable reading experience for everyone.
> 
> I did that cheesy thing where you make the last line the title of the song again. I'm so awful omg, I swear there will come a chapter where I don't incorporate the title into the fic.


End file.
